Kirislin Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 I've got a fantastic camera and lenses and yet I can never EVER get pics as sharp as I want them to be. I accept that I might miss focus on some shots and I also realise that people often sharpen as part of their post processing, I do too, I use the Canon program DPP but I just dont seem to be able to get them as sharp as I see some here. I know it has to be me, I am not blaming my gear, I just wish I knew what I was doing wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Can't help.. only direct you to where you may find ideas LINK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huga Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Mine are really soft too, Kirislin - compared to others. Drives me nuts, I just can't quite get it. I've noticed the ones from my 24mm and 105mm are generally a lot sharper though. My 50mm just doesn't have the same quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~*Shell*~ Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 I found a lot of mine had to do with my depth of field being too narrow. For example, i used to shoot at 1.4 a lot and now i very very rarely shoot at anything lower than 2-2.8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huga Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 I generally shoot between 2.2 and 3.5 unless I'm doing group stuff. But even the focus point is still not that sharp, IYKWIM? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frodo's mum Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 (edited) I've got a fantastic camera and lenses and yet I can never EVER get pics as sharp as I want them to be. I accept that I might miss focus on some shots and I also realise that people often sharpen as part of their post processing, I do too, I use the Canon program DPP but I just dont seem to be able to get them as sharp as I see some here. I know it has to be me, I am not blaming my gear, I just wish I knew what I was doing wrong. if a friend of mine reads your post she would have thought I had written it I'm always saying to her I just can't get that sharpness to my photo's ( and good colour LOL ) I have always loved your photo's though I must say will be watching this thread with great interest Edited January 27, 2011 by Frodo's mum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 Look at this, I've asked wags to come in and tell how she got it. I can never get pics to look this sharp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
becandcharch Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Kirislin why dont you post up some pics with your exif data. People may be able suggest different settings to what you have used Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 thanks for that site Pers. I think alot of the time because I am often in bad lighting (indoors, darkish house) I have my lens wide open, or close to it. I might have to force myself to stop it down more (or is that up, anyway, smaller aperture) and increase the ISO more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wagsalot Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 (edited) I did edit that photo - I used photoscape and clicked the sharpen button (maybe this is the trick??) , and also the auto contrast button I think it was. Then I did some vignetting thing. Im rubbish at that stuff so like how I can just click a few buttons and be done I found the exif button in photoscape and this is what it had (I couldn't copy and paste for some reason so did a screenshot) Now... this is really embarassing as Ive only recently branched out to the manual settings (After having my 350d for 5 years!) and I don't really know what Im doing so don't laugh if the exif data says I've done something in a really odd way Edited January 27, 2011 by wagsalot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruthless Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Look at this, I've asked wags to come in and tell how she got it. I can never get pics to look this sharp. This is hosted by Flickr. When you upload to there they automatically sharpen the pics considerably. Obviously this was an in focus pic to begin with. The DOF is f2.8, not wide open. It was also taken in good light so the ISO wasn't too high. Nice pic Wags Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 I did edit that photo - I used photoscape and clicked the sharpen button (maybe this is the trick??) , and also the auto contrast button I think it was. Then I did some vignetting thing. Im rubbish at that stuff so like how I can just click a few buttons and be done I found the exif button in photoscape and this is what it had (I couldn't copy and paste for some reason so did a screenshot) Now... this is really embarassing as Ive only recently branched out to the manual settings (After having my 350d for 5 years!) and I don't really know what Im doing so don't laugh if the exif data says I've done something in a really odd way see, I dont get it, shallow depth of field, very slow shutter speed and yet pin sharp, mine dont come out like that. Thanks very much wags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wagsalot Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 (edited) It can't be me, I reckon its the sharpen tool in photoscape. Hang on, finding the original to upload ETA - This is the original uploaded to photobucket - definatley not as sharp , so photoscape worked wonders! Hope that helps! Edited January 27, 2011 by wagsalot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 (edited) I just went out and took this a few minutes ago. I used live view and actually placed the camera on the ground. I used auto ISO and WB to rule out something I might get wrong. ISO 320 TV 1/60 AV 4.5 focal length 50mm I sharpened it in DPP and it's nowhere near as sharp as Wags' Thanks for posting the original Wags, I can see now photoscape makes a massive difference. Edited January 27, 2011 by Kirislin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruthless Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Looks pretty sharp to me. To get a pic like Wags try shooting in a brighter [but diffused] light. The SS is a bit slow too. I know the camera was on the ground so you wouldn't suffer camera shake, but the dog's breathing so it could be moving slightly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 thanks Ruth, but look at Wags 1/15 or am I reading it wrong? I'm gonna post the original of that pic and then some extra sharpened but only using DPP and see how they look. Just got to load them to flickr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruthless Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 thanks Ruth, but look at Wags 1/15 or am I reading it wrong? I'm gonna post the original of that pic and then some extra sharpened but only using DPP and see how they look. Just got to load them to flickr. Yeah, tripod or not, I wouldn't shoot an animate object with a SS that slow. Maybe Riley is a very slow breather! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 How are you resizing & what size & Resolution? And are you sharpening before or after resizing? Both these things will make a difference as to how sharp something looks. I think that last pics was very sharp, just different light & a more distracting background to Wag's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 How are you resizing & what size & Resolution? And are you sharpening before or after resizing? Both these things will make a difference as to how sharp something looks.I think that last pics was very sharp, just different light & a more distracting background to Wag's I know nothing about resizing, I sharpen using DPP, the canon program that comes with the camera. As to the composition of the pic I took I have to admit putting absolutely no thought into it at all , I just wanted to try to get an in focus pic to use as an example of how I cannot get them as sharp as others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 OK so this is the original, nothing at all done, straight out of camera. and this one I've sharpened in DPP twice, once from RAW and once using the jpeg thingy sorry I cant explain it, and then very slightly lightened using the curve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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